Introduction
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Project
Introduction
Since we have just completed reading the illustrated copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it is the perfect time to see how much we remembered. In this lesson, I will not only test your reading comprehension, but also your writing skill while allowing you to utilize your own creativity in a fun learning project. Learning to write well can be a long and tedious path, but with this project, I hope it will feel like a fun one. You will be writing your own creative fantasy fiction in this project that will help you expand your vocabulary, enhance your reading comprehension, and improve your writing.
Task
Here is what you are going to do:
Pretend that you are a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or create your own, and like Harry Potter, you/your character are a first year student. Pick a chapter from the book, the earliest you can pick for this project is Chapter 6: Platform 9 and 3/4 until the end of the novel, and write it from your point of view. We see the story from Harry’s point of view, so while he is investigating the Sorcerer’s Stone that school year, what are you/your character doing at the same points and time in the story? This project will be continued throughout the year, and you will pick 5 chapter in the book that you will write your version of. Follow the link to see the vocabulary list that you will be using to enhance your stories.
Vocabulary List: http://www.vocabulary.com/lists/217448#view=notes
Remember that from this vocabulary list, you must pick a minimum of 5 words in your story. You will use 5 for each of the stories that you will complete throughout the year for a total of 25 vocabulary words. However, you can get extra points for using six words instead for each story. You must use the words correctly in the story, and it must match the situation.
Process
Steps to Complete Project:
Step 1: Follow the link and take the Hogwart’s Sorting Quiz to be sorted into your house.
Step 2: Follow the link to learn about J.K. Rowling’s take on wands and decide your wand core, wand wood, and wand length. Explain why you think the ones you chose suits you or your character.
- Wand Woods: https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/wand-woods
- Wand Cores: https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/wand-cores
- Wand Length and Flexibility: https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/wand-lengths-and-flexibilit
You will get together with your group and discuss your choices and reasons and share a few ideas that you have, then follow the next step individually, but feel free to discuss some ideas with your group.
Step 3: Pick the first chapter that you want to write your version of, and using your graphic organizer plot out what is going to happen. Who are your friends in the school? What classes are you good at? What are your hobbies in the wizarding world? These are just a few ideas that you can add into your stories. Be as creative as you want. The graphic organizer will help keep your thoughts in order and act as a guideline. If you want to change something in your story from your graphic organizer, just let me know. Below is an example of the graphic organizer which I will hand out in class.
Before you get started on your graphic organizer, follow this link to learn more about Hogwarts classes and the teachers, as they appear in the books, to help you develop scenes during the school day at Hogwarts. This is required at some point in the five stories you will create, but if you chose a chapter when school is not in session (such as the chapter that is set during Christmas Break, or on the train, or even during the sorting with the Sorting Hat at the start of the school year, you won't need this yet, however, I expect to see some well thought out ideas that show a clear understanding of the book's setting and themes.
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You or Your Made-Up Character:
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Character name: _____________________________________________ As part of the wizarding world, what is your childhood like, if it differs from your current childhood? Keep in mind, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is set in England and Scotland, so did you/your character grow up in England, or did you/your character get sent to Hogwarts due to it being a famously good wizarding school? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Your/Your Character’s Personality: ____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Likes:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dislikes:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What hobbies or interests would you have about the wizarding world? ___________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ House you were sorted into: __________________________________ Why do you think you were sorted into that house? ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What wand would you have? (Example, 11 inch, Apple wood, Unicorn core) ______________________________________________________ Why would that wood and core match you? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Other Lesser Characters of your own creation (not including professor already known in the book, although you may use them: (Include the name of your character, their personality, interests, and their thoughts and feelings towards you as a character) |
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Plot: |
Chapter that you chose: ______________________________________ Event One: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Event Two: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Event Three: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Choose the next four chapter that you will write about later for your next stories: |
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Writing is not an easy task to accomplish, which is why, before you begin writing, follow the links that I have provided below that provide tips on writing, and other graphic organizers specifically for character creation.
- http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/profbooks/devch…
- http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/profbooks/40rub…
- http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/writers…
- http://www.coreygreen.com/storytips.html#2
You do not have to fill out the handout about writer's block, but you should read it and keep the ideas in mind. The handout titled "What a Character" provides some especially useful tips on the final page, but you don't have to fill that one out either. However, the handout titled "Developing a Main Character" I want you to fill out for every character that you create that is entirely of your own creation, including if you chose to write the story as if you were a Hogwart's student.
Next you need to think about plot development more in depth. My graphic organizer that you will fill out is great to start with to try and get a few ideas going, but here is another handout that help you organize your ideas further. Follow the link and read each question, then answer the questions on "The Reader's Guide to Understanding Plot Development."
Step 4: Begin writing. Follow the rubric provided in the evaluation link of the webquest and make sure you include what is listed. You will then get into groups and share your story with your group members to get peer editing before bringing your draft to me for further editing.
Step 5: Once you have finished editing, draw a front cover to your chapter emphasizing your favorite part in your story and turn it in to me.
Step 6: You will repeat the steps of three through five for the other chapter that you will write throughout the school year.
Evaluation
The Rubric:
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5 Points |
3 - 4 Points |
0 – 2 Points |
Final Scores: |
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Subject: Did you follow the instructions of the subject matter? Is the story from your point of view or from the point of view of a character you created, following parallel to what Harry’s doing in your same year?
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You followed the instructions completely and your story follows a parallel to Harry's, and it is from your point of view or from the point of view of a character of your own creation. |
You followed almost all of the instructions and most of the subject matter but you forgot a couple steps and/or your subject matter was not entirely what was assigned. |
You followed few to no instructions, and/or your subject matter was completely different from what you were supposed to be doing. |
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Paragraphs: Do you have a minimum of 5 full paragraphs (3 to 5 sentences) describing the details of your story)
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You have the minimum requirement of paragraphs or exceeded the number required and included plenty of details. |
You have the minimum requirement of paragraphs but some of them are lacking in details. |
You have less than the minimum requirement of paragraphs and the paragraphs are lacking detail. |
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Dialogue: Do you have at least 3 instances of dialogue in your story to give depth to your character and characters you encounter?
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You have included a minimum of three instances of dialogue or exceeded the number of conversations that were required. The dialogue gave depth to the characters |
You have included the minimum instances of dialogue, but none of them gave depth to the characters. |
You have included less than the minimum instances of dialogue and none of them provided depth to the characters. |
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Vocabulary: Did you include 5 of the vocabulary words, correctly used in your story?
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You have included the minimum or exceeded the minimum of 5 vocabulary words, all of which were correctly used in your story at right times. |
You have included the minimum of vocabulary words required, and most were used correctly in your story at moments that made sense. |
You have included less than the minimum of vocabulary words and used several of them incorrectly. |
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Finishing: Did you edit your story and finish it with a drawing from your favorite scene in you chapter?
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You completed all the final steps of editing and providing a drawing as a front cover to your chapter. |
You completed most of the final steps of editing and provided a drawing from your favorite scene. |
You completed none of the final steps of editing and may or may not have provided a drawing. |
Conclusion
Conclusion
When writing fictional stories, it is clear that motivation of characters and personality of characters is important to include when “filling them out.” Did you notice that the more you wrote of the other characters besides yourself, you got to know them more as you added more personality traits? Did you notice how much more about your own character’s motivations you had to describe so that the reader would understand why you acted the way you acted. Although fiction and fantasy are not real, from reading and writing in those genres, the importance of fantasy and fiction as part of our lives becomes more noticeable. Entertainment has been used throughout history to bring joy to our lives, and make-believe and exercising our imagination, as we did with this project allowed us to be part of that process. In doing so, we also honed important skills we learn through literature: reading comprehension, writing, and vocabulary, all of which we used in our daily lives.
Credits
Resources Used
Rowling, J.K. (2015). The Illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Rowling, J.K. (Unknown date). Wand Lengths and Flexibility. Retrieved from https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/wand-lengths-and-flexi….
Rowling, J.K. (Unknown date). Wand Woods. Retrieved from https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/wand-woods.
Rowling, J.K. (Unknown date). Wand Cores. Retrieved from https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/wand-cores
Unknown Author (2015). Hello Quiz's Sorting Hat Quiz. Retrieved from http://www.allthetests.com/quiz31/quiz/1403288230/Harry-Potter-Sorting-Hat-Quiz.
Unknown Author (Unknown Date). Developing a Main Character. Retrieved from http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/profbooks/devch….
Unknown Author (Unknown Date). Planning Form: What a Character. Retrieved from http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/profbooks/40rub….
Unknown Author (Unknown Date). Keeping the Ball in Play: Moving Past Writer's Block. http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/writersblock.pdf.
Unknown Author (Unknown Date). Reader's Guid to Understanding Plot Development. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson401/R….
Green, Corey (2011). Story Writing Tips for Kids. Retrieved from http://www.coreygreen.com/storytips.html#2
Unknown Author (2007). The Harry Potter Lexicon: Academics. Retrieved from http://www.hp-lexicon.org/hogwarts/classes/hogwarts_academics.html#first
V., Paulo (2012). Vocabulary Lists: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Retieved from http://www.vocabulary.com/lists/217448#view=notes.